1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to ozone generators, and more particularly, to a device for sterilizing an ice machine using ozone gas from an electrolytic ozone generator.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known that ice machines tend to be contaminated by microorganisms such as bacteria, saccharomycete, fungus and moulds. Tap water that has the residual chlorine filtered out is particular a great medium for bacteria to propagate. It is often reported that some famous fast-food stores provide ice tested as containing excessive bacteria. This is not only a serious threat to consumers' human health, but also a disservice to businesses' reputation. Ozone is known as effective, wide-spectrum, and residuum-free sterilization technology and is applicable for this use. Currently, there are some ice machines using ozone for sterilization. However, most of them generate ozone by using the high-voltage discharge method to ionize the air and this way inevitably incurs the production of nitrogen oxides that are believed responsible for certain cancers. On the other hand, in some other existing ice machine that use electrolytic ozone-water mixing devices, since the water inlet of such an ice machine is equipped with a throttle-type solenoid valve, its operation required a high water pressure, and this makes the device complex.